Why It's Costly to Hide B2B Customers Behind Brands

A business-to-business story generates more income when it is both relatable and reusable. To make your client story worth sharing with partners and colleagues, you as a writer need to portray the story’s characters well. This is not as complex as you might think. There is a simple overarching rule to remember when writing a client story: Your brand, solution or service provider should be presented as a guide for the hero of the story. That guide is the help the hero needs to reach his goal. The hero of every good client story is the client. You shouldn’t make the mistake of portraying your solution as the hero.

This can sound like a no-brainer. But in reality an overwhelming number of client stories told by multinational, including Fortune 500, companies fail in one way or another to comply with this principle. Without realizing it, success-driven organizations prioritize their interests at their own peril. They structure presentations in such a way that readers are forced to hear their product features with cross eyes, because their brand—who is supposed to guide the main character—steals the show from the hero. It signifies that they don’t understand how their readers think and feel. As a result, large firms make sales similar to case studies but leave the rest of the world wondering whether their business will serve the future.

Marketers wrongly think that writing case studies is a win or lose game. Either you have a winning story or you don’t. But the truth is, every value-driven story is a winning story. What makes or breaks a client story is the writer’s voice. Companies that use an authentic voice to tell an organic story can surely outshine the competition. This has been proven in the global market time and time again. It’s true no matter how big or little the quantifiable results their products/services yielded before.

The secret to gaining the trust of potential clients is their engagement. The more engaged they are with your client story, the more clearly they will see the benefits of your solution. If you’re afraid your business results are no match for the competition, connect to the heart of people with stories of vulnerability to hoist your brand across industries. Authenticity is a marketing secret that also serves top corporations whose case studies lack the qualities of a vintage story.

It will help position you as a refined yet relatable brand in all spheres of influence. Even more important, your company can become an open story everybody owns and talks about.